With The Commentary of the RABAM
First, I must acknowledge all the people who reached out to me last week. Phone calls. Faxes. E-Mails. Fundraising letters. "Why was there no drasha from Rabbi Schmeckelstein?" they all asked. You would think that with all the Toirah on the Internet you could find a substitute for a week. Perhaps a Dvar Toirah from Aish Hatoirah. Or a Vort from Har Etzion. (But don't bother looking for an e-mail from Chofetz Chaim. They don't believe in computers. I'm not even sure they know how to read and write.)
Dvar Torah = Words of Torah; a discussion of the Torah.
Aish HaTorah = An organization that seeks to draw people back to the Torah. You have us, you don’t need them.
Vort = Word. Hence a communication, a speech, a message, a lesson, a dvar.
Har Etzion = Mount Zion; name of a yeshiva in Yerushalayim.
Chofetz Chaim = A Chassidic master from Radin in Lithuania (Rabbi Yisroel Meyer Kagan HaKohen, 1839 – 1933), author of several works: Ahavas Chesed (loving kindness), Nidchei Yisroel (the scattering of Israel), and several others, including works on halacha (law) and haskafah (philosophy).
The work for which he is most famous is the one by the title of which he is known: Chafetz Chayim (choose life), which is about lashon hara (evil tongue – gossip, speaking ill others, and doing ill by speaking of others). A book which goes into any detail on a subject, even if in utter opposition thereto, can function as a ‘how to’ - the choice is yours. It’s a zesty subject. Watch Fox news for actual examples of lashon horo in practice
Note, by the way, that ‘Kagan’ is a transcription of Kohen.
Well, truth be told, you Amha'aretz, I was doing research for the commentary on this week's Parsha, Bahaloischa. This Parsha, no less than any other in the Toirah, is all about rebellion, primarily against the Aimishteh. The Bnei Yisroel complain about the poor menu selection in the Midbar. Moishe rebels against the Reboinoisheloilum when asked why Klal Yisroel is rebelling. Aron Hacoihain, the minuval, and Miriam Haneviyah, the yentah also rebel by seeking to share the limelight of leadership with Moishe, or at least receive an equivalent number of stock options with a very low strike price.
Behalosecha = In your making, go up!
Bnei Yisroel = The Jews. All the descendants of Yakov, who was Israel.
Poor menu selection in the midbar = Manna manna yada yadda. No fleyshedikhes. No carrots, no spinach, no tomatoes, eggplants, onions. Absolutely no chicken soup, no gefilte fish, no gehakte leber. No bacon and eggs. Manna. More manna. Only manna.
No recipes for manna have come down to us. S’iz a kovinsidents, nisht?
Moishe, Aron, Miriam = Two brothers and the wife of one of them, being a recipe for rebellion, especially if all three are cock of the coop.
Ha Kohein = The Priest. Ha Neviyah = The Prophetess. Ha Yentah = The Shrew.
Nu? Leyn Reb Chaucer. Leyn Reb Sheykspir. From these too you should know.
What is it about human nature that causes us to rebel, even against the Melech Malchei Hamelachim Hakadoshboruchhu, who, according to the Kabbalistic teachings of the Ari Zahl, can easily crush you with his Almighty, oversized feet? (According to the Vilna Goyn, the Aimishteh wears size 613 Air Jordans, but according to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, He wears size 770 Skechers.)
Melech Malchei Ha Melachim Ha Kadosh Boruch Hu = The King who reigns over Kings, the Holy One, sanctified be he. Also a line in a Sabbath song.
Arizal = The holy Ari, Rabbi Yitzhok Luria (1534 – 1572, son of Rabbi Shlomo Luria Ashkenazi, a descendant of Rabbi Yechiel Luria of Brisk); a protégé of Rabbi Klonimus of Brisk. Rabbi Yitzhok, who lived in Tzfat (Tsafed, in Israel), was a Kabbalah giant, whose teachings were disseminated by his star pupil Rabbi Chayim Vital Calabrese (1543 – 1620, see below).
Rabbi Chayim Vital Calabrese (1543 – 1620).; son of Rabbi Yosef Vital, who wrote an incomplete commentary on the Zohar Ha Kadosh (The Holy Book Of Splendour; a Kabbalist masterpiece written by either Shimon Bar Yochai in the second century C.E. in the holy land (or by Moishe Ben Shemtov de Leon, see below). His father, Rabbi Yosef, moved from Calabria (Southern Italy) to Tzfat before Chayim was born.
Rabbi Chayim, who was ordained by Rabbi Moishe Alshich (see below), spread the teachings of the Arizal far and wide. Initially, he was a student of Moishe Cordovero (the Ramak, born circa 1522, died 1570, also see below), but following Rabbi Moishe Cordovero’s death, Rabbi Chayim studied under the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzhok, see above). After Rabbi Yitzhok’s death, his writings were collected by Rabbi Chayim, and published under the title Kituvei Arizal (Writings of the Arizal) by Rabbi Chayim’s son Rabbi Shmuel Vital, who completed his father’s work.
The Zohar, Zohar HaKadosh = The Splendour, the Holy Splendour; a Kabbalist masterpiece allegedly rediscovered by Moishe Ben Shemtov de Leon (1250 – 1305; surnamed de Leon after his birth city, though he moved to Guadalajara (El Wadi El Qaharat) in Castille when young, and died in Avila when middle aged). Purportedly written by Shimon Bar Yochai (active 135 CE to 170; a student of Rabbi Akiva), but it is likely that Moishe de Leon wrote it, at least in part – the Aramaic in which it is written shows vocabulary and grammatical elements that do not occur in other second century writings, numerous words are coinages or backformations, and there are also words for things and concepts which were not current until the tenth and eleventh centuries, as well as traces of Spanish and Occitan usages.
However, it does not matter who the real author is, as the Zohar has risen to a pinnacle that few other books can even approach, and has since its ‘rediscovery’ occupied the minds of some of the greatest scholars, as well as prompting the writing of commentary after commentary. Fewer can legitimately claim to understand it than the number who have written about it; most writings about it in English are of little use.
Rabbi Mosihe Alshich (1508 – 1593), also known as the Alshich HaKadosh (the holy Alshich) and Al Sheich, was a student of Rabbi Yoisef Karo and one of the leaders of the beis din of Tzfat. He wrote midrash on Torah (Toras Moishe) which are still widely read.
Moishe Cordovero (the Ramak, 1522 – 1570), was the teacher of Rabbi Chayim Vital Calabrese (and a student of Rabbi Yosef Karo and Rabbi Shlomo AlKabetz), the author of Ohr Yakar (Precious Light; a commentary on the Zohar) and Pardes Rimonim (The Pomegranate Garden; a compendium of Kabala). Rabbi Moishe received smicha (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi Yakov Beirav (circa 1474 – 1546),
Rabbi Yakov Beirav (1474 or 1475 – 1546), a Talmudic authority from Northern Africa who moved to Tzfat. After disputes over smicha, he was forced to return to Morocco. He had tried to reinstitute the stages leading up to a Sanhedrin, of which smicha (ordination) was to be the first step. The intent was to continue the chain of transmission established by Moses, in preparation of the expected coming of the Moshiach. But there was much opposition.
According to some sources, he ordained only one person (Yosef Karo), according to others, four rabbis were ordained by him; in addition to Yosef Karo, they were Rabbi Moishe Ben Yosef Mi-Trani (Ha Mabit, chief rabbi of Tzfat, b. 1505 – d. 1560, author of the Kiryat Sefer, which is a commentary on the Yad Chazaka of Rabbi Moishe Ben Maimon), Rabbi Shlomo AlKabetz (who wrote Lecha Dodi (Come, o beloved), a famous song to welcome the Sabbath), and Rabbi Yosef Sagis (b. ? – d. 1573).
Rabbi Shlomo AlKabetz (born 1500 in Salonica, moved to Tzfat in 1535, died 1580), also ordained by Rabbi Yakov Beirav, was the author of Manot HaLevi, Bris HaLevi, Beis HaShem, Avotos Aheva, Ayalet Ahavim, and a song, Lecha Dodi (Come, o beloved), for which he is perhaps most famous.
Lecha Dodi = Come, o beloved; a song greeting the Sabbath as a bride (lecha, dodi, lecha dodi nikrat kalah – come, o beloved, come o beloved and greet the bride), which is part of the Jewish liturgy sung at twilight on Friday, and which was first sung by many Kabbalist of Tzfat as they went into the fields to receive the Sabbath. (An abbreviated version of Lecha Dodi is known by many Chassidim, and it would be a good thing if you at make it a regular part of your Sabbath observance – a song is good for the soul, and the Sabbath is both bride and queen and should be welcomed with joy. )
Note that Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488 – 1575) was the brother in law of Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz, the teacher of Rabbi Moishe Cordovero, and the author of the Shulchan Aruch.
Smicha = Rabbinic ordination. In its modern form it differs in several aspects from Mosaic smicha. The term ‘smicha’ derives from anointing, but for most of the past two millennia that has been neither relevant nor observed.
After our yeshiva bochur has spent several years studying Talmud-Torah, most particularly halacha (Talmud), and thereof most particularly the Shulchan Aruch (a compendium of halacha based on the Talmud, written by Yosef Karo) and its commentaries and addendums, and of that most particularly the laws of family purity, the Sabbath, and ‘forbiddens and permitteds’ (issur ve heter), he will be tested in his knowledge by a panel of Rabbis from among his teachers, who will ascertain whether he is capable of regurgitating the appropriate opinions and formulating them in acceptable fashion.
The testing may take as little time as getting a drivers license, or may last over several grueling days (talk to several graduates of the yeshivot you are considering before you commit!).
Yeshivot differ in their requirements for ordination, and in their procedure – the minimum required is a testing, and certification that the talmid knows the material. Though that implies that any one rabbi can give smicha (and there have been numerous famous scholars whose smicha was precisely that – one teacher, one signature), in practice smicha from a known yeshiva implies a stamp of approval, and adherence to certain interpretations and opinions.
From Yeshivot OTHER than Yeshiva Chipass Emess, that often means EITHER a slavish mirroring of the opinions of the teachers at that institution, OR a promise to give Judaism a shot, abjure Buddhism, and finally start paying attention to some of the mitzvos. Graduates from those “yeshivot”, to them we don’t talk.
Not all who have received smicha practise as shul-rebbeim. Some go on to pursue academic careers, some eventually become realtors or such-like, and some will, based on their smicha thirty years ago, irritate the piss out of everybody with their condemnatory comments of everybody else.
When it comes to serving a synagogue community, many new rabbis are entirely in the dark, as their training did not prepared them for the issues of a kehilla, and their exposure to synagogue service and the holy days is often not much greater than that of many of their flock. Nevertheless, sink or swim, some of them may, while gaining both experience and bruises, become inspired, while others just bang about in a pre-occupied manner before marrying their secretary or a hot shiksa.
Many communities have completely unrealistic demands and requirements for prospective rabbis, which are often not stated, not explained, nor even hinted at – the poor rabbinic shlemiel must guess them or is expected to know them as if by a process similar to osmosis.
The ideal rabbi is young, but has at least forty years of solid experience. He spends all his time out visiting the sick and elderly, while being available in his office at all times. He dresses like a melech on a stipend that even a nebech couldn’t live on, and gives money to the poor besides. He does not speak longer than the attention span of his congregation, explains everything in fluent Russian to recent émigrés, Poylish to your parents, English to you, and answers of no more than one or two sentences to your querulous kinderlech, while not waking you up before kiddush, chas ve shalom.
He is a profound scholar whose latest sefer everyone in the community can be proud of and claim reflected glory from, even though no one has read more than halfway down the dedication page, in a copy borrowed from the shul. Such a rabbi is a treasure, an ideal son-in-law… for some other family. In any case, he must be smarter than the local goyishe priest. Much smarter.
Clearly, it takes an exceptional man to be even an average rabbi.
Yeshivas Chipass Emess rabbis meet all requirements. Get one for your shul today. (For more information on receiving smicha from this hallowed institution, please contact Rabbi Pinky Schmeckelstein at: npoj8@yahoo.com)
In order to get to the heart of the matter, I traveled to Latin America, the Middle East and Western Europe to try to develop an understanding of the very basic nature of rebellion.
In Latin America, I met with countless rebel movements. They each claimed to be largely motivated by a lack of economic equity and opportunity, compounded with a feeling of being locked out of their political systems. In addition, they were clearly impacted by excessively spicy food (Voos iz givehn ah Fajita?)
Fajita = Grilled marinated skirtsteak with salsa, guacamole, grilled onions, fresh Jalapeños, and chiles en escabeche, with a squeeze lime juice, wrapped in a hot flour tortilla. The dish originated in the border lands of the Rio Grande, where, when slaughtering a beefsteak beast, the best cuts were sold and the ranch hands ate the lesser cuts, which also explains the invention of Texas Chili.
Nowadays there are ‘Fajitas’ made with chicken or tofu – heresy and pollution!
Skirtsteak = The band of muscular tissue between the abdomen and the chest cavity, which is lean and rather tough (the diaphragm muscle). The lean edge of flanken.
Salsa = The most common salsa is pico de gallo, also known as salsa cruda. Chop tomatoes, onions, chili peppers and cilantro. Mix, add lime juice and a pinch salt. Use as a condiment with anything. Especially flanken.
Guacamole = Avocado brei; avacados mashed with salt, pepper, and lime juice to dip consistency. Great with matzoh. And flanken.
Jalapeños = One of the most common peppers in the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico, having a medium level of heat and a nice peppy taste while still green – somewhat sweeter and hotter when ripe. For some of us this is a salad vegetable, for others of a gentler disposition it is a guarantee of heartburn. Myeh, it takes some getting used to – it’s a lifestyle choice.
Chiles en escabeche = Pickled peppers. Blanch and slit the chilies, then submerge in a mixture of vinaigre, water, salt, sugar. Age a week ere use. Good proportions for the pickling solution are two thirds vinaigre to one third water (or splash in a little white wine), with two to three tablespoons salt and sugar for each pint of liquid. Sliced onion and lemon may be added. Use within three months for best flavour.
Tortillas = Mexican style flat breads. There are two types: corn tortillas (tortillas de maiz) and flour tortillas (tortillas de harina). The latter type are favoured in the Southwest and Northern Mexico.
Please note that almost all commercially sold flour tortillas (tortillas de harina) are treif mamesh, because they are made with lard – I suggest that you substitute lavash or pita bread (Khubz baladi). Corn tortillas usually are not made with lard, just masa and water. But check the package for a heksher, and consult a Mexican rabbi when in doubt.
Texas chili = Chili con carne; the descendant of Son-of-a-bitch stew. To make S.O.B. stew, all the odd parts and scraps from a slaughtered beefsteak beast were chucked into a cauldron with grease, powdered peppers (chile seco quebrado, chile seco pulverado), and water, to cook for two or three days until a slurry of doubtful edibility but undeniable sabor autentico resulted. Eventually this evolved into Texas Chili, which consists of chopped beef simmered with onion, various chilis secos pulverados (powdered chilis – several different kinds), ground cumin, Mexican oregano, and garlic (and NO beans, you hippie!).
Chili powder can mean both powdered chili, AND the spice blend (various types of hot and mild ground dried chilies, ground cumin, Mexican oregano, garlic powder) used for Texas chili. Make your own blend to have greater control over quality, freshness, ingredients, and heat levels. Most commercial spice blends of any kind are crap, and have sat too long on the shelf.
Note that powdered garlic, one of the ingredients of commercial chili powder blends, contains anti-caking ingredients that can leave you with dry mouth and symptoms of a drinking binge the next morning – wouldn’t you rather have achieved that naturally?
In the Middle East, those Anti-Semite, Jew Hater, Arafat loving, Soinay Yisroels, as well as their coalition partners from the Labor Party, tend to agree that the essence of rebellion is situational, a natural response mechanism motivated by the ever changing human condition, as well as the ever-important support of the Shas Party and Agudat Yisrael.
In the Arab world, the sense of rebellion, which is manifested as anti-Israel and anti-American sentiment, is driven by an overall deep frustration over a lack of freedom of expression, a lack of political self determination, a lack of economic equity, and a lack of political access.
Sonay Yisroel, Soneh Israel = Hater of Israel.
Sonay Hashem = A hater of the Aibishteh (soneh = to hate). But the most well known phrase in which this delightful verb occurs is “le olam Esav soneh l’yakov” = Esau will hate Jacob forever.
Labor Party = Principle left-of-center political party, political descendants of Ben Gurion and other early founders of the State of Israel. Vice Premier Shimon Peres and the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin were both leaders of the Labor Party and founders of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Shas = A Sephardic ultra-Orthodox political party.
Agudas Israel (Agudas Yisroel) = One of the two factions in United Torah Judaism, another political party. The other faction is Degel Ha Torah (Banner of Toireh). Both are Hareidi.
Finally, in Western Europe, the rebellious human tendency is driven by a sense of too much freedom of expression, too much political self determination, too much economic equity and too much political access.
In other words, the only common theme is that everyone is basically unhappy.
According to Rabbeinu Tam, the general malaise of the human spirit emanates from a lack of rules and boundaries -- which is why WE received the Toirah, have Halachah, and are therefore perfect AND BETTER THAN THE GOYIM!
Rabbeinu Tam = Rabbi Yakov Ben Meier (1100 – 1170), a mediaeval French Torah exegete from a family of exegetes.
Toirah, Halacha, and better than the goyim = What’s to explain?
But the Mordechai holds farkhert: pointing at this week's Parsha, he notes that Klal Yisroel, even after receiving the Toirah on Har Sinai and keeping the TARYAG mitzvois, as they most certainly did, were still a bunch of vilda chayas.
According to the Toisfois Yuntif, the reason that Klal Yisroel is so rebellious in Parshas Bahaloischa is that in this week's Parsha, they reached their teenage years. Born as a nation, they grew up in Mitzrayim, and reached the age of Mitzvois at Har Sinai. Now, they are like a fourteen year old with raging hormones, who has recently smoked his first marijuana cigarette (chass v'sholom).
The Mordechai = A mediaeval commentator from Germany slaughtered with his entire family during the Rindfleish massacres (1298 C.E.).
Toisfois Yuntif = Rabbi Yomtov Lippman Heller (1579 – 1654), rabbi successively of Nikolsburg, Vienna, Prague, and Krakow.
Mitzrayim = Egypt. Har Sinai = Mount Sinai, where the commandments were given.
Mitzvois = Commandments.
Taryag mitzvos = 613 commandments (248 positive commandments, 365 negatives). The Gematria (significance of a word based on the numerical value of the letters) of taryag is as follows: 400 (tav) plus 200 (reish) plus 10 (yod) plus 3 (gimel).
Wilde chayas = Wild beasts. Chaya = Animal.
Marijuana cigarette = You know that smoking is bad for you? A farfoylte sach, solst nisht machen a shande for di goyim! And Marijuana? Just one word – shrotzim! And tameih! And drekkerei! And…..
It is written in Dvarim 4:15 “venishmartem me’od l'nafshoteichem” (guard well your lives), which according to the Rambam means that one must avoid those things which harm the body, and accustom oneself to things which improve one’s health (Rambam, Mishneh Toirah, Hilchois De’ot (The Laws of Temperaments) 4:1). Damned hippies!
Indeed, if we look at all the dissatisfaction in the world, one must reach one of two conclusions: According to Bais Hillel, the Aimishteh created a perfect world, and humans simply don't know how to appreciate it. But according to Bais Shammai, the Aimishteh created a horrible, imperfect world, and we are all victims of His creation.
Bais Hillel = The house of Hillel, being one of two schools of thought in the decade or two ending around 15 C.E., centered on the sage Hillel and his students and followers. Hillel veered towards interpretations that took man’s frailties and essential goodness into account, whereas Shammai and his school insisted on stricter, more rigid interpretations. Hillel was humble, Shammai was passionate.
To follow Hillel is to be humane, but to follow Shammai often is to be utterly correct.
Halacha generally agrees with Hillel, while holding that Shammai is also right – Elu va elu divrei Elokim chayim (this and that, both are the words of the living G_d - Talmud Bavli, Eruvin 13b).
Hillel and Shammai were the final pair of leaders (zugos) in the period following the death (273 BCE) of Shimon HaTzaddik, Simon the righteous, last member of the Great Assembly (Knesses HaGadol).
Zugos = Pair, from the Greek word for yoke, referring also to a crossbeam, or two even loads, or both sides of a pair of scales. In the context of the period following the end of the great assembly (knesses hagadol), founded after the return of the exiles from Bavel and the building of the second temple, the pairs of leaders who headed the institutions of Jewish intellectual life – the Nasi, or president of the Sanhedrin, and the Ab-Beis Din, the chief of the court of law.
Hillel versus Shammai: Perfect world versus imperfect world and the role of humans = For two and a half years the houses of Hillel and Shammai argued. One side said that man would have been better off never having been created, while the other maintained that man certainly was better off having been created. In the end they concluded that man would have been better off having never been created but now that he existed, he should examine his actions and strive to improve them. Dos pshat iz, life sucks.
While I am personally inclined to agree with Bais Shammai on this one, this opinion would not be good for me professionally, so I am forced to reject it. Yet the basic thinking does offer the roots of an answer, which comes to light in a famous Chassidic tale. There once was an egg merchant in the town of Shklov whose entire inventory was destroyed one day by a heat wave. The merchant went to the Baal Shem Tov and asked why he was singled out for such a miserable fate. The BESHT responded by pulling out a bottle of Slivovitz, drinking down three shots with the man, and then pulling out a mirror which he held up to the man's face. He then said, "Look -- you are so ugly, no one would have bought eggs from you anyway!"
Baal Shem Tov, the Besht = The Master of the Good Name, Rabbi Yisroel Ben Eliezer (1698 – 1760), founder of Chassidus, teacher of the Maggid of Mezeritch, Rav Dov Baer (1710 – 1772), who in turn taught Rabbi Schneur Zalman (1745 – 1813), the founder of Chabad Chassidus.
These were might men in tough times - “all beginnings are hard” (kol haschalos kashos - Mechilta Shemos 19, Parshas Yisro).
The truth is, the world IS an imperfect place. But if you spend too much time focusing on the imperfections, you are likely to get leprosy, like Miriam, the yentah. Instead, one must focus on the positive. And if you have trouble seeing the positive, three shots of Slivovitz might help bring it into focus.
Slivovitz = A product or derivative (vicz) of plums (slyiva: plum in Slavic languages, but the same root yields sloe in English, a small nasty plum used in gin). Slivovitz is a fruity firewater from the Balkans and Central Europe, which is considered one of the few acceptable rotguts for consumption during peysach, as it contains no chomeytz, and has a kick like a mule. A blessing (brucha) at three shots, a curse (klala) at six. It is minhag to have some in the house at all times.
If Slivovitz is unavailable in your area (and then why are you living there?) you may substitute Tequila, which is also chomeytz-free.
